Jay WexlerReviews

Outdated by now (the Supreme Court has gone a lot further in mandating deference to religion), but recounts key cases and in many instances talks to people involved in them. Wexler has a very strong, jokey voice that you may react strongly to one way or another, but does a good job communicating what the doctrines were like at the time.

An easy to read discussion of Establishment Clause cases, and ways in which minority religions have been using the opportunities opened by pro-Christian decisions to leave their own mark on the public square. The author visited with some of the quirky religions (and non-religions) that have begun putting up their own displays and handing out their own material in the public square next to the ubiquitous Christians. He proposes this "cacophony" as he calls it to the domination of the public forum by one religion only, and urges us to look at this as opportunity. He does detail many cases in which this didn't work out. Some of these cases actually had the best outcome - removing religion from the public offices and schools - but some of them had the effect of just sort of silencing the other voices while giving lip service to inclusion. The violence and grief many have suffered for their efforts was downplayed a bit too much for me; I think with his thesis, that the noisy public square is a good thing, is ill served by these cases, and they deserve a better airing. Also no discussion of how much trouble can be stirred up by all this extraneous activity creating distractions from the work that needs to be done in these public institutions, and that the mere act of balancing so many competing claims cuts into the ability of the governmental offices to function. How much I don't know, since I have not seen any studies. Overall, a bit superficial in places, but a worthy book.

Not as funny as Assassination Vacation, a book that HH draws comparisons to, but Wexler is really smart, really opinionated, and really invested in getting people to understand church-state law better.

This is a entertaining, informative read. It presented complex information in an easy to understand way, and was quite funny. If you believe in the seperation of church and state, and in freedom of religion, you should read this book.

This book would make a good discussion group book. Each chapter discusses a different religious activity that harms the environment. It brings up excellent questions such as 'What religious activities are more important to you than their consequences?' Things like burning paper money never crossed my mind as potentially harmful (except that I think they should be printed on recycled paper), but the author makes a case worth considering.

I appreciated that the author also focused on attempts to find sustainable solutions that would enable the religious activity to continue with little modification. I also appreciated that many religions were represented.

The book is well-written, had a good copy editor and reads smoothly.

I would strongly recommend this book both to those concerned with ecology and those concerned with religion.

Boston University School of Law Prof. Jay Wexler examines instances in which religious practices run afoul ecological interests. For example, palm fronds for palm Sunday celebrations causing rain forest damage in Central America. Taoist and Jewish practices of burning joss paper and bonfires respectively causing air pollution and asthma. Hindi celebrators honoring Ganesh carry large plaster of Paris statues into the sea, left on the ocean floor to contribute further to water pollution. Buddhist ‘mercy release’ ceremonies release millions of small animals into inappropriate habitats, killing most and ruining ecosystems.

Wexler spent years traveling around the globe to witness and try to understand the religious and legal issues surrounding these and other practices. He writes in an easy conversational tone, very accessible to the lay reader. I quite enjoyed his “The Odd Clauses” about lesser known and debated clauses of the US Constitution, which could serve as a mini-civics lesson. This book was equally interesting. Ultimately, Wexler supports a collaborative effort between government and religious entities to help preserve the environment. He urges caution with an eye towards the unintentional consequences of regulatory action. As with so much of public policy addressing competing interests, it becomes a balancing act.

In Guatemala, the source of the vast majority of the world’s palm fronds, cooperatives have grown up to support the more costly and time consuming harvesting of the palms. EcoPalms might cost a Congregation $25 to $50 more a year, but mean all the difference to those in Central America doing their best to combat wholesale destruction of the rain forests. My own congregation is now using EcoPalm products and I am encouraging others I know to do the same.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. I am also a graduate of BUSL, although Prof. Wexler came well after I left and I have never met him.½

I'm grateful to have received an Early Reviewer copy of this book in February 2016. The fact that it took me ten months to finish it sort of sums up my reaction. It deals with an interesting topic, named in the subtitle - how should public policy deal with situations where religious observance hurts the environment? - but my attention kept sliding away to other books on my pile, and I'm an environmentalist with a legal background.

For anyone interested in these issues, it is worth a read. My tepid reaction stems from two factors that may not bother other folks. First, in a number of the case studies, it is so clear that, while the religious practice certainly has an environmental impact, it is a proverbial drop in the bucket compared to other sources of pollution - factories, cars, patterns of infrastructure and land use. By the later chapters, Wexler explicitly acknowledges this, but returns to the argument that, nonetheless, the religious practices he considers do have impacts, even if they are relatively small. As a full time advocate, though, I found this unconvincing; my colleagues and I are constantly prioritizing time and resources to work on what we think are the worst threats. Poring over hard-to-solve but small problems is a legitimate choice for intellectual stimulation, but I kept finding myself asking, how much of an issue is this really? To be fair, some of the issues Wexler addresses are not small; he makes a strong case that the burning of joss paper and the release of large numbers of non-native animals both have major impacts in some places.

The other part of the book that didn't really work for me was the humor. Wexler frequently seemed to be aiming for a "naive adventurer gets in over his head" vibe, a la Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. For all I know, he may have hit the mark; I don't really get Bryson either. But the voice Wexler takes on to recount his travels felt pretty artificial to me, and a lot less interesting that he must be in real life, given his thoughtful insights when he lets himself really grapple with his subject.

There isn't much of an overarching lesson to draw from the book - just that these conflicts are messy and should be solved by striking a balance between freedom of religious expression and the need to contain harmful externalities. Don't read the book for that, but for the specifics of the various case studies, and perhaps as a spur to reflection on the impacts of our own practices and rituals.½

I enjoyed the book, I think it needed a little more heft - it's very anecdotal, it doesn't have all that many examples. It's also clear that many of the churches are aware of the environmental problems and seeking to mitigate them.

I won a copy of When God Isn't Green through LibraryThing's Early Reader giveaway program in exchange for an honest review.

Author, Jay Wexler, is a professor of environmental law at Boston University. Wexler takes the reader on trips across the globe to examine the points where environmental law and religion collide and the conflicts and frictions at these intersections. The author explores the effects on the practice of religion when they are modified, such as with the Taoist practice of burning joss paper to appease the ghosts of dead ancestors. Igniting fires en masse can cause a spike in air pollution and exacerbate health problems among some of the population. Technological compromises have been introduced, but are rarely utilized. Do these more environmentally safer practices take the spirit out of spiritually and cultural traditions? There are no easy answers.

Wexler's engaging style kept me intrigued throughout the book. the content of the book elevated it from being a mere travelogue.

At its best, Wexler's book is deeply humane and brings both humor and keen outsider observations to the practices he observes in places as far flung as Taiwan and Alaska. The author claims that his book is the first to look at the intersection of religious practices and environmental regulation, and he may be right. As such, I will admit that I was hoping for something a bit carefully researched and referenced. Wexler's travel narratives do not disappoint, though, and once I got used to his occasionally self-conscious and irreverent tone, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

However, at times Wexler veers into mild disrespect for the practices he describes, even while repeatedly asserting that neither he as a scholar nor any government has the right to decide which religious practices are "authentic" or "necessary" to a tradition. I agree with his assertion, so I found problematic his casual description of certain religious activities as "bizarre" or "the zenith of weirdness." I'm inclined to think that this tone comes not from real disrespect but from a frank admission of his lack of familiarity with practices he observes and partakes of in the course of his travels. Suffice it to say that, for this reviewer, the humor only occasionally lands as the author seems to have intended.

Overall, this book is a valuable and often fun addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in the intersections of law, environment, and religion. A professor eating fermented whale at the top of North America? Call it gonzo journalism for the 21st-century academic set.

Part serious examination of environmental issues, part breezy travelogue, this book explores the world while exploring the impact of some religious practices on the environment, and how people and organizations are trying to help save the earth. The author is a professor, but this is written in an informal style and is very readable. Wexler relates so much exotic detail that it feel like you're right there with him as he travels bad roads to see palm plantations, joins packed crowds to view idols, and relaxes with the local beer. If you're interested in examining a few examples of environmental issues in detail, read this book. (A longer review will appear in the next issue of Eternal Haunted Summer Magazine.)

This is a good read. Jay Wexler has a entraining style of writing and explains the amendments very well and holds your attention the whole time, its a shame he seems to be a left leaning weenie, but we can not all be perfect.

Short review: “When God Isn't Green” by Jay Wexler, surprised me with its depth, fairness, and fun. As a professor of Law, he knows his subject. As an engaging author, he brought me right in to the different issues joyfully as well as clearly. Worth reading over again, and using it to help me illuminate my own religious practices.

Long review: My hopes for the book “When God Isn't Green” by Jay Wexler were not high enough. The author teaches church-state law and environmental law at Boston University, so he should have been well aware of the issues, but he claims that these issues, when looked at together, are so complicated that “knowledge of the law” is not enough. In order to help plan new laws to help the environment, and/or protect religious freedom from governmental impingement takes in depth investigation into the beliefs and practices involved. Many religion's practices were studied. Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Native American, Hindu, African American Diaspora religions, Taoist, and others were explored for their practices and possibilities for making them more environmentally sound. Mr. Wexler was not on any one side in this convoluted issue. Law professor writing about law – I expected the book to be dry, but educational. Not in this case.

Professor Wexler's exploration of the impact of religious practices on the environment was wide-ranging and fair. He did not try to define “sincere religious beliefs” nor accept the definitions of the mainline branches of a church's definitions of “appropriate” practices for the entire range of a religion. Costs of changes and recognition that poor people have as much right to practice rites was considered and he believed that laws must take the needs of poorer practitioners in their effect. “The issue I found myself wondering about the most , however, was whether increased regulation of the [Hindu] Ganesh festival would have troubling, unequal effects on rich and poor worshipers. … Regulation of any sort that increases the costs of an activity, even if the costs are measured in terms of difficulty of engaging in the activity rather than pure economics, is likely to impose unequal burdens on regulated parties ...“ [page 101] “And so the government should be very wary of implementing any regulation meant to protect the environment that will allow some believers to practice their religion but not others.” [page 102]

He explored Christian use of palm fronds from Central and South America and how desire for one kind of palm above all others nearly caused extinction of at least one rare bird. The old practice of cutting down trees to get all the palms has been corrected in some areas by a coalition of churches willing to pay more for each palm, giving the villages willing to gather the palms in a way so as to not damage a tree when palms are harvested. This gives hope to rainforest areas.

On the side of the environment, he comes down clearly for governmental regulations in many cases, but only if the religious practices are allowed to exist in a still vibrant manner. “When faced with a substantial risk to the environment and human health, the government has an obligation to regulate activities to protect its citizens, regardless of the religious motivation of the activity. Observing and breathing in the smoke coming out of many of these furnaces, I felt certain that the practice of burning joss paper [Taoist practice] is dangerous, not only to those who personally engage in it but also to bystanders who are basically forced to breathe in the dangerous, carcinogenic smoke sent up by all the burning.” [page 139] ... “Second, when it comes to regulating religion, if it is possible, finding a technology-based approach will usually be preferable to outright banns.” [page 139] “Third, the government should recognize that regulating religious practice will have significant impacts on the religion itself and should seek to minimize these impacts.” [page 140] “Forth, the government, when crafting a technology-based regulation, should make sure to avoid requirements that will thoroughly reduce the vitality and vibrancy [later called neutering] of the religious practice.” [page 141] “Finally … the government should work together with religious individuals and groups while drafting and implementing its regulations.” [page 141]

“When God Isn't Green” is a wonderful study of this complex topic; which is also fun to read. Surprise.

After learning about the existence of a bald eagle repository where the U.S. government distributes the corpses of bald eagles that have died in the wild to Native Americans for use and religious rituals, the author of this book becomes fascinated with the tensions between environmentalism and religion.

This book is his attempt to learn more about this complex issue and satisfy himself on how best to mitigate the disagreement. The author travels the world to see how other cultures negotiate these sensitive issues and what more can be done to safeguard our environmental and cultural treasures.

Jay Wexler's curiosity serves him well as he travels around the world to study the places where religious practices and environmentalism aren't as in harmony as we think.

When the Earth, its life, and religious rituals are all sacred how do humans prioritize the sacredness of each? If they do at all. Wexler finds communities where NGOs, private industry, and local governments have stepped in to try and preserve all three. Results may vary.

This is an easy and humorous book. Each chapter is a different case study so the whole book does not need to be read in one sitting. You can dip in and out and not feel like you've missed anything. There are some clumsy sentences that might trip a reader up but over all an interesting read.

I received this book as part of the early reviewer's program but if I had seen this at the library I would have definitely picked it up.

Reading about how different religious practices affect the environment was fascinating and also depressing. It doesn't sit well with me that "God" would allow us to do something that would harm the earth that supposedly was created by "Him".

But, well, humans are not perfect and this book shows that and leaves no doubt that when it comes to how certain religions choose to worship, the Earth is not part of their concern.

A fascinating read but be prepared to be disappointed in humanity.

Wow! First book i have read out of pure interest, and might I add quite a unique point of view.

A lawyer reviews some of the pertinent church state decisions, and visits the areas where they happened. Although this is a valuable book, the author treats some things a bit superficially, including his discussion of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) which he thinks is a good thing. One wonders if his opinion on that has changed since the recent decision in the Hobby Lobby case? He also buys into the idea that it was unanimous, which means he didn't research it thoroughly enough to understand the strange maneuvers that were used to get it passed at all. In addition, he does what is one of the most annoying things in these sorts of books - he spends a couple of hours visiting with people, and decides that everyone is likable, and poo-poos the fears of those of us who live daily with these surroundings. He also presents a very superficial - and inaccurate - view of history when he states that without the churches, there would have been no abolitionist movement, no civil rights movement, etc. While there were churches and religious people involved, this totally ignores the very real participation and leadership of non-believers, and fails to acknowledge that many saw these as "atheist" movements. The book itself is written in a snarky, half-serious vein that is fun at times and at times becomes a bit off-putting. Some great analogies - check out the Texas longhorns analogy to the Ten Commandments monuments. All in all, a mixed bag, and therefore not a good starting point for someone really interested in these cases.½

When I was studying Constitutional Law back in the 1970's we were all so excited to be looking and studying the questions that had engaged the minds of the Founding Fathers back in the day.

Our teacher would tease us with a few lines of Holy Writ - the elegant phrasing of the original Constitution, perhaps the most beautiful writing ever to come out of a Committee.

And then Whammo! he would dump on us the fifty pound bound books of all the case law and statute law and findings that had been built up like barnicles on that original elegant foundation.

Which is what the new book The Odd Clauses reminded me of. It's a light hearted trip through some of the odder and perhaps not so well thumbed parts of the Constitution, with lovely side glances into modern interpretation and the Nine Old Men of the Supreme Court whose duty it is to tell us what the heck the Founders really meant.

The section on Letters of Marque and Reprisal is alone worth the price of admission (and to think that in the 21 century people are still talking about issuing them to stop the Somali pirates - incredible!)

But OTOH what is the role of Congress on making war? Lots of fascinating stories here.

The author has done his homework and the book reads like a bull session late night in a really good law school.
(That's intended as a compliment)

The Odd Clauses, by Jay Wexler, provided a fascinating and very accessable journey through ten of The Constitution's more obscure provisions.
A professor at Boston University School of Law, Mr Wexler writes with a large dollop of snarky political asides, that I found in no way affected my understanding of the difficul subject matter.

Seperation of Powers; Weights and Measures; Recess Appointments; Original Jurisdiction; Natural Born Citizen; Federalism; Letters of Marque and Reprisal; Title of Nobility and Privacy clauses are all treated thoroughly enough that even a political neophyte like myself grasped a basic understanding of these parts of our Constitution with out making me feel stupid.
I came away with a much greater respect and admiration for the framers of the Constitution who were prescient to include these clauses to ensure a more free and open society than what they had left in Great Britain.
My interest has been piqued enough that I will pursue more on this and similar subjects.½

I found most of the stories within "The Adventures of Ed Tuttle Associate Justice and Other Stories" to be pretty weird and they didn’t strike my fancy. I did enjoy the first three stories, and thought the story titled "The Adventures of Ed Tuttle" could be expanded into a full-blown novel. From there on however, the topics became increasingly strange as if they were spawned from one’s inexplicable dreams and some just seemed like a mish-mash of random parts of speech thrown together. Maybe I just don’t have the background experience or smarts to get this author.

Highly disappointed in this book although I think that is mostly my own fault. This book simply was just not my cup of tea. I found much of the satire depressing and disturbing rather than funny. Although I did enjoy Wexler's experiments with writing styles and story types it all just made me unhappy feeling. I only got through half of this book because I couldn't make myself read anymore. But like I mentioned in the beginning, this book was just not my style and others may find it more enjoyable.½

Wexler's collection of stories is permeated with the attitude that only years spent in the Washington DC area can bring. The stories are absurd, witty, and enjoyable in their variety. Like any collection of short works, there are hits and misses but the satire and undertones of thereof bring a smile to the reader's face more often than note. While the overall feel of the text can come off as a little dry or perhaps prone to inside humor, this reader found the passages playful and fun. The experimentation in story structure were refreshing and made the book actually seem more cohesive. There were several unexpected lines that were absolute gems. The stories carry consistent themes despite the variable quality but it should be noted that the general quality of the book is high. The book could be overwhelming to a casual reader or to one trying to sit down with it for extended periods of time but taken in chunks, this makes for an entertaining read. Wexler has a strong debut with this collection and it will be interesting to see how he handles a longer format.½

Prof. Wexler's collection of short stories is a trip through a variety of landscapes, not all of which relate to the law or lawyers. I read the "black and white zoo" story out loud to my kids, it was so hilarious. Many of the other stories, though, were head scratchers: alien law librarians, frequent negative experiences with clams, and so on.

Some attempts at humor fell entirely flat, or made me wonder whether they were intended to be funny or not. Lawyers who love baseball will enjoy the reimagining of Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor's appointment hearing but most of the nuance of who the participants were and the importance of things like the infield fly rule were lost on me.

My lack of enthusiasm for this book is as much connected to my expectations (that it would be about the law, it would be funny, etc.). Prof. Wexler writes well and readers who enjoy short stories, especially those that are a bit unusual, will probably enjoy this book.